Remembering the career of Gus Zernial

When you read about old baseball players, doesn’t it seem like they led more interesting lives than their current-day brethren? It seems so to me. Consider the life of Gus Zernial.

Zernial was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1923, one of ten children. He was a multi-sport star at Beaumont High and, after graduation, played one season with the Waycroft Bears, an unaffiliated team in the Class D Georgia-Florida League.

At the end of the season, Zernial joined the United States Navy, where he served three years as a radio technician.

The time in the Navy was good for Zernial. He went in at 6 ft. and 180 pounds and came out at 6’2″ and 220 pounds.

In 1946, he played for the Class C Burlington Bees and led the Carolina League in home runs (41) and slugging percentage. He also hit .333, drove in 111, and scored 114 times.

Cleveland selected him in that year’s Rule 5 draft and stashed him in AAA Baltimore. In late April 1947, they sold his rights to the Chicago White Sox. The Sox assigned him to their AAA affiliate, the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League.

Zernial was a star with the Stars, during which he picked up the nickname Ozark Ike. Ozark Ike was a popular comic strip that ran from the mid-1940s until 1958. Ozark Ike was the creation of Ray Gotto, who later in life designed the New York Mets logo.

While playing in Hollywood, Zernial was anointed with the title of being the next Joe DiMaggio. The handsome Zernial was chosen to pose with a young actress named Marilyn Monroe for a movie publicity shoot. Joe D later asked Zernial to introduce him to the blonde bombshell. The rest, as they say, is history. Once you’ve made commercials with peak Marilyn Monroe, what do you do for an encore?

Zernial made his major league debut on April 19th, 1949, against the Tigers. He hit his first major league home run a few days later off the St. Louis Browns’ Red Embree.

He established himself as one of the game’s best young power hitters during the 1950 and 1951 seasons with combined totals of 62 home runs and 222 RBI.

In April of 1951, the Sox engineered a three-team trade with Cleveland and the Philadelphia Athletics in which Philly received Dave Philley, Ray Murray, Sam Zoldak, and Zernial. The Sox received Minnie Miñoso in return.

Zernial played four seasons in Philadelphia, blossoming into one of the game’s most feared sluggers. During that four-year span, Zernial averaged 30 home runs and 100 RBI, while hitting .268. He picked up MVP votes in two seasons and made his only All-Star team in 1953.

Like most players, Zernial could get blisteringly hot. Over a four-game stretch in May of 1951, he scorched the Yankees and Browns, going 8-for-15 with seven home runs and 29 total bases. He had several huge games in his 11-year career, with the best coming on June 22nd, 1952, when he blistered Detroit pitching, going 5 for 6 with two home runs and 11 total bases, leading the Athletics to a 10-0 win.

Zernial moved west with the Athletics to Kansas City, where he continued to be a formidable power hitter. He played three seasons in KC, averaging 24 home runs and 66 RBI per season. Age was beginning to catch up to him, as well as nagging injuries. His best year in Kansas City would have been his first, 1955, when he banged 30 home runs and drove in 84.

In November of 1957, the Athletics put together a massive 13-player trade with the Detroit Tigers in which they sent Zernial, Billy Martin, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan, Lou Skizas, and Tim Thompson to Detroit. The Athletics got back seven players, the best being outfielder Bill Tuttle and catcher Frank House. In those days, the Athletics were always making massive off-season trades, desperately trying to remake their roster. Between 1955 and 1965, they made twelve separate trades of at least five players. Eight of those trades involved at least seven players.

Zernial played two more seasons in Detroit, but by this time he was already 35 and his once prodigious power was gone. He hit just 12 more home runs in the final 126 games of his career, the final one coming off Herb Score of the Indians on August 15th, 1959.

Zernial’s career numbers were solid: a career .265 batting average with 237 home runs and 776 RBI over an 11-year career. He led the American League in home runs in 1951 and led all of baseball in RBI that magical summer. He was always near the top of the league in outfield assists.

In retirement, Zernial did television commercials and was a sportscaster in Fresno. He did play-by-play for most of Fresno State’s sports teams for years and was instrumental in helping Fresno secure a minor league team.

He had a serious bout with cancer in 1992, being so close to death that he received last rites. He miraculously beat it and lived until January 20th, 2011, when he died of congestive heart failure at the age of 87.

What a life. Baseball prodigy. U.S. Navy veteran. All-Star baseball player. Worked with Marilyn Monroe. What more could a young man from Texas ask for?

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